 |
| Publised in Art & Deal Magazine, Jan - Feb 2019 |
Over
the last twenty years Indira
Purkayastha
has been practicing and evolving a sculptural language deeply engaged
with nostalgia, materials and narration. Through these engagements
she has developed a personal articulation of contemporaneity which is
alternate to the neoliberal aesthetics which largely defines it.
Purkayastha brings into focus our continuing engagement with
modernism and its dialouge with the evolving contemporaneity in
visual culture. Her works carry a memory of our folk cultures and
their visual language without being overtly derivative if those
traditions. There seems to be inherent connect with folk traditions
and their idea of sympathetic magic. Purkayastha’s forms and their
silence speak of an artist who is aware of the forces and memories
that inform her work..... Rahul
Bhattacharya speaks
to her, mapping her practice, artistic journey and
future directions.
R
B:
Could you please share with us your experience of practicing
sculpture in the period of first five years after your completing
your masters.
I
P: After
completing my Master from Benaras Hindu University, I moved to
Kolkata and joined the Lalit Kala Regional Centre. I got the National
scholarship (1994-96), then Junior Fellowship (1997-99) from Minis.
of HRD. That helped me to stay and work form Kolkata for five years.
These years were very important for me. Limitation of life – in
bondages of space and time, of nature, of morality, of society, of
tradition, of custom and religion – become imminent, which found a
vent through my sculpture For
a Place.
These
five years was the fore step to shaping my experiences. My focus was
towards experiments and learnings. I experimented with mediums. I
visited villages of Kolkata & Chhattisgarh and arranged small
camps. Fenced
In
& Cage
were two of my works made that time.
In
1997-98, I worked with Vivan Sundaram in his large installation,
Journey
Towards Freedom
at the Victoria Memorial, Kolkata.
R
B:
What were your early artistic inspirations?
I
P: As
a child I grew up in the foothills of Chhattisgarh playing with
adivasi children.
This the experience grew seeds inside me, which grew to always connect me with the notion of purity and a beautiful sustainable relationship with the
environment that comes to as an almost primordial language. My love
for the subconscious innocence, the playful, and the narrative took
roots within me during my childhood.
When
I was fourteen I made my first collage and since then my works
continues to be inspired by what I find around me. A defunct piece
of furniture in my house was the starting point for my imagination in
my quest to give visual form to my life experiences.
R
B:
Could you elaborate on the effect Banaras Hindu University had on
shaping you as an artist.
I
P: My
ideas of outdoor large scale sculptures focused on skill and
craftsmanship are inspired from the time I spent in the Faculty of
Visual Arts at the Banaras Hindu University. My constant urge to
improvise and narrate deep social stories coupled with the ability to
conceptualize and craft the images, which manifest through my
sculptures, have been imbibed by my guru, the legendary Balbir Singh
Katt. My initial creations
Gathering,
Mob,
Queue
and Fenced
In have
been profoundly influenced by the lanes and the ghats of the
mythological river Ganges, where I spent years doing sketches and
indulging in addas.
R B:
This year you have won the first prize at the Lalit Kala Nationals,
sometime before that you had a large solo show – can you tell us a
bit about your artistic expression in this period of your journey?
Especially in terms of you working as a teacher and based in Raipur.
I
P: The
show Epiphany
is
a large body of work produced over seven years after I become an art
teacher. Teaching exposed me to the power hierarchies of the
knowledge industry, but also to the great power of the sub conscious
mind and the vast power in children to explore fantasies, and create
narratives, which are sincere and playful at the same time. The works
showcased in Epiphany
contain many such explorations and stories of power, play,
inspirations and fantasies. The show is rich container of an adult’s
struggle to imbibe to experience and articulate the emotions of
children in a representational form.
Being
based out of Raipur gives me an edge; it gives me a new imagination
of contemporary life which is difficult to access from the centers of
Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata. Chhattisgarh being a tribal state, has its
own aesthetic tradition and visual culture, as a sculptor, I feel
anchored by it. Being a teacher keeps me connected with children,
playfulness and fantasies. The sculpture on which I got the National
award this year is Assembly
of Angels
shows a factory like building representing an institution. One
conveyor belt is goes through the building, on which baby ants are
entering into the building from one door and coming out from another
door of the building like grown up robotic ants.
The
sculpture is a manifestation of my involvement with children. Ants
have been used as a metaphor for the future denizens. Each one is
endowed with differential abilities, but the education system fails
to recognize the same. The result is assembly like production. The
wheel with the handle is a depiction of systematic control driven by
ideology.
R
B:
You seem to have a special relation with wood.
I
P:
When I was in my master some defunct pieces of old furniture brought
uniqueness to my work. Wood has been preferred over other mediums
because of its different colors, textural quality, monochromic
impression and its amenability of space division. I started making
shapes with wood pieces, pasting it according to the texture and
different colors together, which make me very appealing. Still, I
feel there are lot of possibility to work with wood, both as a
concept and as a medium.
R
B:
In terms of how you blend your use of medium and concepts...
I
P: In
my works, medium and concept develope simultaneously, each exploring
the other.
I
have always been interested in giving aesthetic forms to abandoned
objects. I work with wood scraps of different colors and different
textured, pasting together according to the shapes and concepts, in
playful manner. I use metal scraps, wires, metal dust in many of my
works. I blend metal to show strong sentiments and assert my
feelings. These are the manifestations of the inherent strengths
within all of us, which mostly lie dormant. I depicted the character
of bird through Bamboo roots. Sometimes neglected parts of woods
arouse in me significant thoughts. With gourd somewhere I tried to
show lightness and sometimes i have used it to show heaviness too.
R
B:
Your works seem to have connection with folk and tribal elements.
I
P: As
a child I grew up in the hills of Chhattisgarh playing with adivasi
children. The pure and fresh environment in all its phase took roots
in my sensibilities and perceptions were naturalistic. This
experience grew seeds inside me, which grew to always connect me with
notion of purity and a beautiful and sustainable relationship with
the environment that’s come to as an almost primordial language.
Thus my works carry a memory of our folk cultures and their visual
language.
The
travails of pursuing my work in an alienated rural setting give a
tribal impression to my sculpture.
Most of
the tribal and folk art forms have been confined locally.I envisage
spreading my works of art deep into Chhattisgarh in a contemporary
manner. My vision is that, through my sculptures the folk art and
tribal art forms of Chhattisgarhmay live ina global phenomena.
------------------------------------------------
Interview Publised in Art & Deal Magazine, Jan - Feb 2019
